A common building style used during the construction of various structures involves the use of prefabricated wood panels. These wood panels typically include sheets of plywood and wood beams assembled together to form a desired shape that matches the design requirements of the structure. The panels are built in a manufacturing facility located away from the construction site and then transported to the construction site to be installed. In this way, construction time on location may be reduced as the wood panels can be prepared before construction of the structure begins. Furthermore, constructing the wood panels in a manufacturing facility may be more time and cost efficient than constructing the wood panels at the construction site. As a result, the total cost and time required to build a structure may be reduced when utilizing prefabricated wood panels when compared to more traditional building techniques.
However, wood typically lacks the strength required to support larger structures. As such, reinforced concrete is often used as the primary building material for large building structures. The concrete is typically poured into a mold prepared at the construction site and allowed to cure on site. After curing, the mold is removed and the next portion of concrete is poured. However, concrete is significantly heavier than wood and can increase the weight of the building, requiring expensive structural and foundational systems to support the weight of the building. Further, concrete is typically brittle and tends to crack when deformed. When subjected to high wind or seismic activity that can cause the concrete to bend, the concrete tends to fail, losing the desired strength properties, potentially reducing the structural safety of the building. Some conventional construction systems reduce the amount of concrete by providing a metal decking with a thinner concrete top slab atop the metal deck. While this construction with the concrete topper can reduce the weight of the structure, the metal decking can be expensive, which adds to the final cost of the building structure. The metal decking with the concrete topper has other drawbacks and shortcomings.
To utilize the modularity and savings benefits of the prefabricated wood panels and the strength of the reinforced concrete, it would be desirable to provide an improved composite building material that incorporates concrete integrally supported and anchored on a non-concrete platform.